Courtesy of Immy at the 6th Richmond Gathering. Deep brown, nice head. Bready with some raisins in the aroma. A touch of vanilla as well. Flavor matches, but I am not adequately expressing the depth and richness of these flavors. Some slight bourbon notes on the finish perhaps, but this is a beer where the barrels simply accentuate as opposed to dominate. Excellent stuff.

Bottle shared by kmweaver. Thanks. Poured an opaque dark brown color. Head was khaki with good retention and lacing. Good looking beer. Aroma was of bourbon, vanilla, and brown sugar. Sweet on the tongue and boozy with bourbon, raisin, brown sugar, and toffee flavors. Creamy, medium to full bodied mouth feel. Good stuff. Not over-bourbonated, some might say.

Pours a deep dark brown to blackish color with a medium sized head. Aroma of bourbon, malt, vanilla, brown sugar and maybe some coffee or chocolate. Flavor is very complex, first the bourbon attacks then as it subdues you taste chocolate, oak, rasins, vanilla, figs. and caramel. The mouthfeel in this one is excellent with a nice soft warming sensation that melds with all of the flavors. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, yum!

Let me first say that at first I really wanted to not like this beer. Something about this whole frequent special releases thing kind of rubs me the wrong way for some reason.
A- I have to say this looks just about perfect. Very dark brown, almost black with a creamy, tan head that leaves quite a bit of lacing as it falls.
S- Smell is very enticing, sweet, brown sugar, spices, almost detect a sour note towards the end, slight coffee, a bit of bourbon.
T- Taste is much different than I was suspecting from the smell. Tastes creamy, mixed spices in the middle, sweet cream, a slight bit of bourbon. Can detect the alcohol warming but it blends in so superbly. The sweetness wears on you after a while. Definitely a sipper.
M- A bit thinner than I would have guessed, very crisp with a lot of carbonation. Refreshing, Iím a little tired of beers that are way too thick, this is excellent.
D- I really really wanted to not like this beer. I tried to find as much wrong with it as I could but I just couldnít. Not a huge fan of the brewery, didnít buy into the hype and I loved it. Try to get a bottle now why there is still some in circulation, you wonít regret it.

375mL bottle. Pours deep mahogany, nearly opaque, with a moderate sized mocha head. Rich aroma of roasted chocolate malt, vanilla, oak and bourbon. Palate begins on the sweet side, with raisin, vanilla, chocolate, and caramel. Long finish, with raisin, chocolate, oak, and warming alcohol. Velvety smooth mouthfeel. The bourbon is integrated nicely; I enjoyed this more than the brandy version. Iíd like to try this side-by-side with the original version in the near future for better comparison.

I was kindof skeptical going into this because it seems like everything that is uber-hyped, I tend to hate. Not this one. This is one of the smoothest, most complex barley wines...no wait, this is THE smoothest and most complex barley wine Iíve ever tasted. Palate is amazing for something this strong. Big thanks to wj94 for this one!

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